Randy Gibson: Distant Pillars, Private Pillars
Galtta Media

Two earlier Randy Gibson albums, Aqua Madora (Avant Media, 2011) and The Four Pillars Appearing from The Equal D under Resonating Apparitions of The Eternal Process in The Midwinter Starfield 16 VIII 10 (Kansas City) (Irritable Hedgehog, 2017), were performed on piano by, respectively, the American composer himself and, in an incredible 3.5-hour realization, R. Andrew Lee. In featuring eight performers, Distant Pillars, Private Pillars is closer in spirit to the ensemble presentation of his material at the Avant Music Festival; in 2014, for instance, his Apparitions of The Four Pillars in The Midwinter Starfield Under The Astral 789 Duet, was realized by Gibson (voice, sine waves), Jen Baker and William Lang (trombones), Drew Blumberg and Erik Carlson (violins), and Meaghan Burke (cello) in a mesmerizing 190-minute performance. Baker, Lang, Carlson, Burke, and Gibson also appear on the new release, with Carlos Cordeiro (clarinets), Mariel Roberts (cello), and David Lackner (alto saxophone) joining them. One additional difference merits mention: whereas Gibson's vocal drones were part of that 2014 presentation, they're absent here, the composer instead contributing sine waves, sequencing, and mixing to the recording.

The character of the material is consistent with the style Gibson has developed during the past decade, one inarguably indebted to the indelible imprint his lessons with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela have had upon him. Gibson's interest in alternate tunings is present throughout the work, which (for the double-CD presentation) is split into two parts, Sunrise and Sunset. The first details that appear are ambient sounds of nature and the urban environment, the composer drawing from the nearly twenty hours of source recordings he collected to evoke the world we physically inhabit. Slowly, sine tones and instrument timbres emerge, the latter sourced from recordings the musicians made of themselves performing in their personal spaces around the country (while four are Brooklyn-based, the others call Connecticut, South Carolina, and California home). Referenced implicitly is the pandemic in the way the contributors recorded their parts in isolation before passing them on to Gibson. Despite the distances separating them, the eight unite in the work's collective expression.

Assembled with sensitivity to detail, texture, and dynamics, Distant Pillars, Private Pillars unfolds patiently, its general mood peaceful and its material conducive to absorption. Though it's presented as nine indexed parts, each of which lasts approximately nine minutes, the work unfolds as a continuous, long-form meditation where instrument tones accumulate, generate a harmonium-like blend, and expand and contract like a breathing body. Brief episodes surface where the musicians disappear, but for the most part instrument sounds dominate. A moment or two arises where the real world intrudes, with bird chirps and an engine growl audible in “Seven Daybreak” and a car horn twice punctuating the dense wheeze of “Nine Evening.” As it advances towards its concluding “Fundamental Sunset,” the dynamic pitch at which it largely resides decompresses for its peaceful closing chapter. In simplest terms, Distant Pillars, Private Pillars presents a constellation of sound alluring in texture and transporting in effect.

In speaking of Apparitions of The Four Pillars in The Midwinter Starfield Under The Astral 789 Duet, Gibson stated, “My ultimate goal with my work is to create a fully enveloping meditative experience that allows the listener to transcend time and place and be fully in the performance.” Much the same might be said of Distant Pillars, Private Pillars, with the deep droning sound world conjured by its eight participants doing much to help him realize that goal.

January 2021